Dear list; I will now give you a few pieces and surnames from the book "Tales of the Dark & Bloody Ground" by Willard R. Jillson, Dearing Printing Co., 1930 , Louisville, Ky. On page 60 there is a copy of the Bronze Marker on Leestown Pike in Lexington, KY. which reads: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------- AT A SPRING NEAR THIS SPOT ON JUNE 4, 1775 - PIONEER HUNTERS BIVOUACKED AND NAMED THEIR CAMP LEXINGTON. THE PARTY INCLUDED: John Maxwell, Levi Todd, William McConnell, John McCracken, Hugh Shannon, James Duncan, Isaac Greer, & others. TABLET ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF LEXINGTON JUNE 4, 1925 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------- Page 61, Chapter VI - CAPTAIN JOHN COWAN'S JOURNAL - 1777 In 1777 Harrod's Fort was three years old. It had been rebuilt, greatly enlarged and materially strengthened....(snip) It will be remembered that in August 1776, Captain George Rogers Clark, a delegate with Captain John Gabriel Jones, representing the settlers in western Fincastle county, presented himself before the Revolutionary convention of Virginia at Williamsburg saying that," if a country was not worth protecting, it was not worth claiming." .....(snip) Clark gained the title: "Founder of Kentucky"....(snip)...p. 62 tells about bringing ammunition from PA to Harrodsburg with engagements with the Indians where some were killed & some taken prisoner between Blue Licks and the Ohio River along the Old Limestone Trail where Captain Jones, Joseph Rogers, William Graden & Josiah Dixon were killed..(snip) .....it tells of a concentrated attack upon McClellan's Fort, where Georgetown now stands with four defenders being wounded, John McClelland, Charles White, Robert Todd and Edward Worthington....the Fort was abandoned. Shortly after....McClelland died.....(snip)...then came by express on June 5th Military Commissions signed by Patrick Henry, Gov. of Virginia, naming Clark a Major, Boone, Harrod and John Todd Captains.....(snip) we have the following carefully prepared journal of John Cowan, one of the original settlers of Harrods Town....(snip) the original copy made by Gen. R. B. MaAfee of Cowan's diaratic entries from March 6 to September 17, 1777. (Here I will insert a few names of men killed, wounded, etc. during skirmishes with the Indians: · Killed: Billy Ray, Thomas Shore at Shawnee Springs; Hugh Wilson, Garret Pendergrass, Daniel Goodman was scalped; Peter Flinn; Jacob Hoffman killed by Cherokees at Rye Cove on the Clinch River. Wm. Hudson, Ambrose Gressom, · Wounded: Daniel Boone, Isaac Hite, John Todd, Michael Stoner, John Kennedy, Burr Harrison, Jones Manifee, Samuel Ingram · Unhurt: James Ray escaped and warned the town of Harrodsburg, KY; · Other names mentioned: Ebenezer Corn from Ozarks, Butler & Myers from Boonsborough.; Daniel Lyon, Acensus of Harrodsburg on May 1, 1777 page 64 Men in Service: 81 - not in Service 4; Women: 24; Children above 10 years old: 12; Children below ten: 58 Slaves: 12; Negro children under ten years: 7..........TOTAL 198 On May 12th...mentions Messrs. Squire Boone and Jared Cowan arrived from the Settlement. On May 23rd...Captain Todd, Cal;laway, and company, set off for the Settlements (Virginia). On June 2nd...Indians tried to burn the fort but were prevented with considerable loss. On June 5th....Col. Bowman was on his way with a regiment of men to protect the country. Glen & Laird arrived from Cumberland. Chapter VII - GENERAL LEVI TODD'S NARRATIVE 1774-1777 A good many fullsome accounts, diaries and journals describing early exploration and settlement in Kentucky have been preseved for posterity. Amoung these the most choice are those written by Dr. Thomas Walker, Christopher Gist, General Geo. Rogers Clark, Col. John Floyd, Col. John Bowman, Gen. Robert McAfee, John Cowan and Col. Archibald Henderson. To such a list must always be appended Daniel Boon's account as told by John Filson in his very rare, "Kentucke" of 1784. (Look in the Filson Library in Louisville, KY) Also a good book for ref. on these Cowans is "Genealogies of Kentucky Families" which states that John Cowan mentioned in the "state papers" as one of the original party that came with Capt. James Harrod in 1775 & kept a diary. In 1786 he was a "Justice of the Peace"